The invention relates generally to test fixtures for drone components. In particular, the invention relates to a ring adapter that attaches a drone forebody to a test platform.
The ScanEagle aerial drone by Insitu (a subsidiary of Boeing) represents a modular unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for low-flying reconnaissance and operates world-wide. Such UAV platforms constitute the sortie portion of unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The Scan Eagle is launched by catapult and recovered by snag wires. Introduced in 2005, the ScanEagle has a wingspan of just over ten feet and a top speed of 92 miles-per-hour (mph).
FIG. 1 shows a perspective assembly view 100 of a ScanEagle drone 110. A compass rose 120 in Cartesian coordinates shows x, y and z orthogonal axes for respective forward-longitudinal, port-lateral and azimuth directions. FIG. 2 shows a perspective exploded view 200 of ScanEagle components.
These include a nose cone 210 with an imagery dome window turret 215, an electronics payload bay 220 containing avionics 225, a fuselage module 230, port and starboard wings 240 with corresponding vertical stabilizer winglets 250 at their tips, a propulsion module 260 contains the fuel, and a propeller module 270 at the tail. A scale 280 provides a comparative length indicator. The nose cone 210 and electronics bay 220 constitute a forebody payload section. The fuselage and propulsion modules 230 and 260 constitute a midbody. The propeller module 270 denotes a rearbody.
Test platforms for empirical data acquisitions can include a variety of enclosures. Tests can be conducted in environmental chambers to simulate particular temperature and humidity conditions, shaker platforms for subjecting equipment to vibration conditions, anechoic rooms for acoustic and radio frequency wave exposure, and wind tunnels to simulate flight conditions in the atmosphere. FIG. 3 shows a perspective view 300 of a wind-tunnel interior bounded by vertical walls 310 and horizontal boundaries 320 (e.g., floor and ceiling). Wind coordinates 330 constitute tunnel axes for drag 332, crosswind 334 and lift 336.
A longitudinal tunnel arrow denotes airflow direction 340 towards a test model 350 disposed in the wind tunnel. Body coordinates 360 constitute model rotation axes for roll 362, pitch 364 and yaw 366. These axes respectively bodily represent axial, lateral and normal directions. The model 350 can be mounted to a sting arm 370 that attaches to a sting base 380 on the tunnel floor 320. Flight, angles 390 denote angle-of-attack α 392 and yaw ψ 394. A ScanEagle drone 110 or components thereof can be installed on a sting arm 370 for testing in the wind, tunnel or other environmental chamber to gather empirical responses to subject conditions.